Mother of alleged Cosby sex assault victim expresses shock and anger
NORRISTOWN » Describing the reaction of a concerned mother, a sometimes tearful Gianna Constand told a jury she was distraught when her daughter, Andrea, confided in her that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by actor Bill Cosby.
“I was shocked by what she had said. My reaction was I was very, very upset and angry. Just the fact he betrayed her,” Gianna Constand testified Wednesday, recalling the Jan. 13, 2005, conversation with her daughter that is still etched in her memory.
At one point, Gianna Constand, of Ontario, Canada, covered her eyes with her hands and wept, telling the hushed courtroom, “I just got to get my composure” before she could continue with her testimony.
When her daughter accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her at his Cheltenham mansion after plying her with pills and incapacitating her, Gianna Constand said her motherly instinct kicked in and she wanted to confront Cosby about the alleged January 2004 assault.
“I started an aggressive conversation with him,” said Gianna Constand, describing a 2½-hour phone conversation that followed with Cosby on Jan. 16, 2005, during which she asked the entertainer to identify the pills he allegedly gave to Andrea. “I was very aggressive with him. I kept asking him what he gave her. I’m not one to let a situation go. I have zero tolerance for any game playing.”
Cosby, Gianna Constand recalled, told her he couldn’t read the prescription bottle and promised to write the medication on a piece of paper and mail it to her. Gianna Constand, who described the conversation as the one in which Cosby “surrendered it,” claimed Cosby then proceeded to discuss in graphic detail the physical contact he had with Andrea.
“He was trying to lead me to believe it was consensual,” Gianna Constand told the jury of seven men and five women, claiming Cosby told her there was no sexual intercourse but that there was digital penetration during the encounter.
“He said, “Mom, she even had an orgasm,” Gianna Constand testified for District Attorney Kevin R. Steele. “I was fuming.”
Cosby, Gianna Constand said, then apologized and claimed he felt “perverted.”
“He said, ‘I apologize to Andrea and I apologize to you, mom.’ He said he’d like to pay for her therapy,” said Gianna Constand, adding when the conversation ended she wished she had recorded it.
So, when Cosby called the Constand residence again on Jan. 17, Gianna Constand did record the conversation, according to testimony. Canadian law permits the interception of a private communication where only one party consents.
During the second conversation, Cosby inquired about Andrea’s career goals and offered to “pay for the schooling and whatever,” according to testimony. Jurors listened to the phone recording while Jonathan Perrone, computer operations supervisor in the district attorney’s office, displayed a transcript of the recorded conversation on a giant projection screen.